Ugly Chiefs Loss to the 0-10 Raiders

Plenty of blame to go around, so I'll start...

1. Game Plan and sticking with it the first half

The Chiefs ran basically the exact same plays they ran last week and the Raiders were ready for it. Charles Woodson in particular seemed to take delight in shadowing Jamaal Charles in the first half. The Raiders were denying the run and the screen passes. Why the Chiefs didn't see this right away and take some shots downfield is completely puzzling to me, especially the way the refs call PI now. I actually think the rain in some way benefits the offense because the slippery field is difficult to cut and react to pass routes.

In the second half, down 17-3, they finally opened it up and quickly scored 2 TDs. Why they didn't see this earlier is puzzling.

2. Parker

The Chiefs have one MAJOR liability: their cornerback Parker. Two weeks ago, he was the defensive player of the week and now, I basically think he deserves to get cut. He jumped about 3 times on balls, none of which he intercepted or broke up, resulting in long pass catches and the final TD. Horrible, horrible plays. And they were playing the Raiders. He was also getting beat against the Seahawks. These are terrible passing teams. Peyton Manning is going to eat him alive. A better corner and the Chiefs win that game. They don't do a PI on third and long. They don't give up huge pass plays to a crap team like the Raiders. He's given up PI 3rd and long first down plays two weeks in a row now. You simply cannot win like that.

3. Alex Smith cannot run the 2 minute drill

For a normally intelligent quarterback, Smith cannot for the life of him run the 2 minute drill. I've seen him with a tremendous number of opportunities over his career and he is simply not good at it. I'd even say bad. I thought earlier this year he did run it well against Denver and just couldn't get it in the end zone. Why don't these guys just go watch old Joe Montana footage? The drill is simple. You need to get yards on first down. The defense will give you easy throws. Make quick decisions before taking a shot downfield. Smith often throws incomplete passes on 1st down, tries to do too much, holds onto the ball too long. Use the running back, especially when you have Charles. Just do swing passes and pick up 8 or 9 yards and then get up quickly and run another play. You get these yards on first and don't worry about the clock yet because your enemy in the first half of the 2min drill is the downs -- and the enemy towards the end of the drill is the clock. Smith worries too much about the clock right away, I think, or maybe worries about the yards. Anyhow, he is bad and needs work on this.

4. Not Scoring That 4th Quarter TD

The Chiefs were at the Oakland 12 on first down tied 17-17. They needed to score a TD there, midway through the 4th quarter. They ran shitty plays and couldn't get it in, and scored a FG. That was the one time in the game they had momentum and they couldn't put them away.